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End of the line for the Vancouver Whitecaps

Author of the article:

Russell Berrisford

Publishing date:

November 2, 2012 • 2 minute read

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There will be time to analyze where the Whitecaps go from here in the coming weeks (and it should be another interesting off season for the club) but the 2-1 defeat to the LA Galaxy that eliminated them from the playoffs hinged on a number of “what ifs”.

What if Miller, Watson or Robson had taken the chance to make the score 2-0 just a minute before the Galaxy equalizer?

End of the line for the Vancouver WhitecapsBack to video

What if Martin Rennie had employed slightly more adventurous tactics against an opposiiton that looked suspect at the back?

What if the referee had adjudged that Landon Donovan has exaggerated the fall that earned the game winning penalty?

The answer to the first of those is that failure to make the most of those kinds of chances (or even create them) has been the story of the season for the Whitecaps and even when they were playing well they couldn’t find the goals to push the game out of reach.

The signing of Kenny Miller, an experienced player with a proven record, was supposed to solve that problem but didn’t and nobody would be surprised if he was no longer with the team next season.

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The answer to questions two and three is that the Whitecaps were playing on the road where Rennie, understandably perhaps, adopts an even more conservative approach than games at BC Place and where the home team is always more likely to get those kinds of decisions in their favour.

If you want to pinpoint where the Whitecaps actually lost the match then it was probably in that terrible end to the season that excluded any chance of at least a fourth placed finish and a guaranteed home game, because the last two performances have shown that the qualities that got them into the playoffs are still there and that at least offers hope for 2013.

The brief summary of this season is that the team has made enormous strides forward under a manager who is still finding his way in MLS. Mistakes have been made, but the club began the year hoping to avoid the ignominy of another last place finish and they will begin the next expecting to reach the playoffs once again.

That brings its own kind of pressure but for now, Martin Rennie and the players can get through the disappointment of defeat with the satisfaction of a job well done.

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